Thursday, July 30, 2009

Last Night, Fountain, City Hall

I've said it so many times I sound like a broken record: you can't take an ugly picture at Pasadena City Hall. You can take a blurry picture there or an amateurish one, or one that's poorly framed. But no matter what you do it won't be ugly because City Hall has no bad angles.

What's a generation? Twenty years? Twenty-five? By either definition, Pasadena City Hall has served the citizens of Pasadena for more than three generations. I bet those early generations were as puffed-up and proud of City Hall as we are.

City Hall will be here for generations to come, still beautiful long after people have no idea what a broken record sounds like.

21 comments:

Dina said...

Glad you have such love for your places.
Good point about broken record. I do remember how annoying broken records were, and how fragile. How many generations old does that make me?

Long may you enjoy City Hall and all the rest.

Shell Sherree said...

Ooh-la-la! And yours is an example of a beautiful pic, Petrea. It glows, doesn't it.

eamon@ewmphotography said...

Like the writing - nicely tied together in the final sentence. However, you are beginning to sound like a damaged MP3 file, Petrea.

Petrea Burchard said...

As old as me, Dina.

Anyone taking pictures there last night would have gotten the glow, Shell. It was so pretty I didn't want to leave.

I don't know what a damaged MP3 file sounds like, Eamon. But the great thing about an MP3 is I can go make a copy of one and ruin it to find out for free.

Susan C said...

What a stunning photo!

"Broken record" is kind of a strange expression, isn't it, because if a record is broken, it can't repeat itself. But nobody ever says "scratched record."

Italo said...

Petrea, good morning and...thanks! NIce evening in a nice place. It seems like an italian piazzetta. Very charming. Ciao.

Sarah said...

A lovely photo!
Your Pasadena is absolutly nice!

Pascal Jim said...

Your love of our beautiful City Hall is outstanding, Working in the building was a privilege I had for several years.

This photograph is worthy of a book cover...

Hughes said...

I love coming here at night! Everything always looks so nice and clean. Thanks for posting the awesome pic!

Anonymous said...

Cool!

cieldequimper said...

Lovely night shot!

HearkenCreative said...

Awesome. I think if I tried a little, I could probably take a bad pix of our City Hall. But it'd be my fault, not the building's.

I remember a few years ago when the City Hall was undergoing earthquake retrofitting, and I was worried that they weren't going to be able to preserve the structure to serve another three generations; but here it is, beautiful and functional as always.

Petrea Burchard said...

I thought of that, too, Susan. I wonder why "broken record" is the expression.

Interesting you should say that, Italo. The architects had Andrea Palladio in mind. http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/cityhall/history.asp

Thank you all for your comments. Loren, you made me laugh.

Cafe Pasadena said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cafe Pasadena said...

P, I was gonna ask if this Citihall photo from when we were shooting up the place back in Nov or Dec. But, it looks like you were out last nite again.

We should go out again to shoot some nite.

Petrea Burchard said...

It was just last night, Cafe, but I thought of you. Remember the reflecting pool across the street where we got our shot? Last night it was empty. Too bad.

Cafe Pasadena said...

Maybe the water shortage? It's an outrage!!

P, that reflecting pool of yours WAS really great. I assume it was below freezing like the last time.
Anyway, we gotta pick out some other location some day!

I'll pay for the film.

Petrea Burchard said...

Okay, I'll pay for the developing.

Ms M said...

Striking photo of a grand building.

from cali said...

This is almost too beautiful to be real. I thought the moon looked great when I saw it yesterday afternoon (I love when the moon and sun are out at the same time.), but this is even better.

Petrea Burchard said...

Thanks, Cali.